by Paul R. Spitzzeri
As we conclude with this extensive examination of these pages of the report of the Los Angeles City Auditor for the year ending 30 November 1904, it is worth observing that the reason for the deep dive is that because this great artifact from the Museum’s collection is chock full of information about the Angel City at the dawn of the 20th century when the metropolis and region were undergoing their third significant growth boom. The first was from about 1868 to 1875, the second from 1885-1888 and the current one began in 1901.
There was more than this, however, including the expansion and increasing complexity of city administration because of the growth from those booms, but also changing attitudes generally about the role of government, including the professionalization of a widening variety of services. Some of this dated to the establishment of California’s current constitution, approved in 1879, and which greatly expanded state administration, while, in Los Angeles, the charter of 1888 had a similar local effect—with major amendments in 1902 and 1905.
With the onset of the Progressive movement, moreover, reform was in evidence in so many areas of government from the federal to the local and that is represented in such Los Angeles entities as the Board of Civil Service Commissioners, which set policy and oversaw the implementation of professionalized examinations for government workers. Other city commissions for schools, water, police, fire and other vital departments were also part of the evolution of municipal administration and, though few, the role of women was gradually increasing and would do so more after the right to vote in local and state elections was achieved in 1911, a crucial year for Progressive reform in California.
Moreover, the Angel City’s growth came with improvements in technology and the move into more industrialization and commercialization, as well. By 1904, the automobile was beginning to become more of a commonplace means of transportation and the city would quickly become car-centric. Almost two decades of direct transcontinental railroad connections as well as more recent substantive improvements at the Port of Los Angeles, which immensely helped regional agriculture would also pave the way for industrial development. Shortly after this report was issued, the Los Angeles Aqueduct was conceived and, when completed in 1913, allowed for further almost untrammeled growth. By the end of this first decade of the century, the film industry would take root and become enormously important economically and for the area’s broader identity.
There is more, but what is also clear is that the growth and improvements, along with the economic benefits, were highly concentrated and greater Los Angeles’ analogs to the Rockefellers, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and the “Gilded Age” tycoons were figures like Isaias W. Hellman, Moses H. Sherman, Henry E. Huntington and Edward L. Doheny, among others. Entities like the Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association, with a powerful public mouthpiece in the Los Angeles Times, sedulously pursued the so-called “open shop,” determined to keep unions at bay wherever and whenever possible. While there was generally no trouble for most Angelenos to find work, the wealth gap was enormous and this would not materially change for decades to come.
As for people of color, they are basically invisible in reports like this and largely so in other representations in media during this period. Yet, there was, in these early years of the century and would continue to be in subsequent decades, significant growth among African-Americans, Latinos (principally Mexicans) and Asians (mainly the Japanese.) While racism tended to be less overt, it was very much in evidence and was become more systematized, including through restrictive covenants in real estate, though the imposition of limitations in certain jobs and industries was also palpable if not necessarily institutionalized.
With this brief and hardly comprehensive summary, we turn to the final pages of the publication, including an “In Memoriam” page that recognized nine City employees who died during the previous year. Among them was Police Matron Lucy Gray, who was featured in one of the parts of the post and who served in that role since it was established sixteen years prior; Echo Park’s foreman Mathew Copeland, who served nine years in that position; Deputy City Clerk Ernest E. Bell; and Deputy City Assessor Lewis H. Lyon.
In a section titled “Los Angeles City,” the most concise of histories was presented, noting the city’s founding in 1781 by 44 settlers among 11 families and that the population grew to 315 by the end of the 18th century. When the American seizure of the Mexican department of Alta California took place in 1847, it was estimated that there were 1,500 residents in the pueblo and surrounding district. After that, highlights noted were that a railroad connection to the north was made in 1876, the aforementioned Boom of the Eighties, and the establishment of that charter also alluded to above.
As to Southern California, the seven southernmost counties in the Golden State (including Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura) were, at some 45,000 square miles, the size of Ohio and populated at the turn of the century by more than 335,000 persons, one-fifth the state total. This was 50% more than in 1890, when there were 201,000 residents and that was three times greater than ten years previous, at about 64,000 persons. Los Angeles County, at 4,000 square miles, had just north of 170,000 persons, or about half the Southern California total, in 1900 and a property valuation of $164 million.
The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce determined that, for 1904, southern California generated a remarkable range of agricultural and farm products, with such examples as 28,000 carloads of citrus; 1800 of vegetables and celery; 750 of nuts; and 550 of beans. Moreover, nearly 3.4 million pounds of butter and 750,000 of cheese were shipped, as were 85.5 million of beet sugar. Other items included 70,000 cases of eggs; 350,000 barrels of flour; 100,000 gallons of olive oil; 1.2 million gallons of wine and brandy; 100,000 barrels of beer; and 30 million barrels of oil. The total valuation of all listed products was about $103 million.
It was also determined that there were 1,550 manufacturers in the Angel City with 12,000 laborers and the value of the products generated at these facilities topped $21 million in 1900, but was estimated to double by 1905. With just over 7,000 building permits issued in 1904 for projects worth nearly $13.5 million, it was stated that “Los Angeles has for two years led all cities of its size in the country for [the] value of building permits, and is still leading” with the added remark, “We build by the mile!” as there were some 21 of these in new building heights constructed during the reporting year.
With respect to population, official and estimated figures from the Angel City’s founding forwards was presented in a table, including school census estimates for the past three years that showed, from the 1900 federal census tally of just over 50,000 [these are almost always undercounts, however), the figures for 1903-1905 were 137,000, 170,000 and 201,000. The 1910 federal census number was almost 320,000. For some reason, assessed value was cut off after only the listings of 1860 and 1870, which showed an increase from $1.425 million to $2.1 million.
Another interesting statistic, courtesy of educator and historian James M. Guinn, were the votes in presidential elections since 1856, which is when the Republican Party arose from ashes of the Whigs. Democratic dominance was pronounced for about a quarter century, with a 58% tally of not quite 1,250 voters that first election growing to a remarkable 77% among some 1,550 voters in 1860 when Abraham Lincoln was trounced and pro-Confederate sentiment regionally was very high. In 1864, however, there was a significant narrowing of the gap because of a fairly large presence of United States Army troops in the area, though it is also telling that the number of voters declined, to 1,300, almost certainly because of the effects of flood and drought in the region. The Democrats’ margin of victory was about the same as in 1856.
Little changed in subsequent elections, though voter numbers rose commensurate with that first boom, small as it was in comparison to later ones, so that, in 1868, 62% of almost 2,000 voters sided with the Democrats. There were almost 3,200 voters four years later, but the Democrats captured 59% of the vote, though a change was afoot as migration during that recent boom led to a significant uptick of Republicans and, in 1876, of 6,656 voters (double that of 1872), the GOP were almost 46% of the electorate.
After the boom went bust, just prior to that election, the regional population dropped, so that, in 1880, there were 6,076 voters and the Democratic margin of victory declined again to 52%. From that point forward, Republicans rose to a majority and a new period of growth showed that there were almost 10,300 voters in 1884 with the GOP garnering 54% of the tally. Four years later, with a skyrocketing population leading to nearly 24,000 voters, the party took 58% of the count.
The next bust came well before the time of the 1892 election, so a drop in voters to 18,345 was not unexpected, though Republicans represented 56% of those casting ballots. Notably, however, there were over 4,400 votes cast for the Populist (70% of this alternative number) and Prohibition parties. A sign, though, that the terrible depression that burst forth in 1893 (coming during a decade of several years of local drought) had an impact on the improving fortunes of the Democrats was reflected in the fact that the 1896 campaign was very close, even as the population again jumped. There were just shy of 33,000 voters, but the G.O.P. captured a slim 51.2% majority. Unfortunately, there were no listings of the 1900 and 1904 campaigns.
After an analysis of the area’s vaunted climate, with the statement that there were an average of 315 sunny days per year (sources now tend to state that there are generally from 262 to 284, with average rainfall over three decades of about sixteen inches (it is usually stated to be twelve to fifteen now). After adding that “there is practical immunity from sunstrokes and mad dogs,” it was observed that “the mild winter climate draws visitors to Los Angeles to the number of 50,000 each year,” while summertime was considered “preferred by experienced residents to that of the winter.”
Since the establishment of the banking clearing house in 1887, annual clearances by financial institutions also showed a general massive increase over time with some variations in reported dollar amounts. So, while in 1888 as that era’s boom peaked the total was some $54 million, the next year’s figure was more than 35% lower and there was another decline in 1890 to not far above $32 million. There was a rebound to nearly $40 million in the two subsequent years and another jump to over $45 million by 1893, when the depression hit.
Yet, there was a moderate increase for 1894 and then a major leap of a third the following year and a leveling through 1897. A 17% increase took place with one of 21% after that, but the next big push came in 1900 when clearances, at $122.7 million, were 36% higher than the previous year. Another one-third acceleration occurred as the 20th century debuted and a 52% rise took place in 1902. Clearances rose by a quarter to 1903 and an eighth more in 1904, totaling that year at $345 million, with Los Angeles ranking 19th in the country in this metric with data taken from 17 banks.
Also provided were monthly comparisons of clearings from 1902-1904, showing that December was the busiest month, followed by November, May and January. A list of 31 commercial and savings banks in operation is also included, some with deposits as low as $10,500 dollars and as high as $10 million and those which loaned ranging from $11,000 to as much as $7 million. The oldest was Farmers’ and Merchants’ National Bank, which formed in 1871 from the ashes of Hellman, Temple and Company (organized three years before by Isaias W. Hellman, F.P.F. Temple and William Workman) and which, in March 1905, moved from its long-time quarters on Main and Commercial streets to a new location where Hellman’s house formerly stood, at the southwest corner of Main and 4th streets. The First National Bank dated to 1875, while several more formed in the subsequent decade.
Railways were also discussed briefly, including the three transcontinental routes from the north via San Francisco, the south from El Paso and the east via Chicago, while the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake line, headed by mining tycoon William Andrews Clark, was nearly finished, with its route, cutting 200 miles to eastern locales, running just south of the Homestead, to the north of which was the 1870s track of the Southern Pacific. There were said to be 4,800 railroad employees in the area with payrolls of almost $600,000 monthly. Ten steam railway and a dozen suburban electric lines, employing around 3,000 persons with $150,000 in monthly payroll, also existed, with “one of the best, if not the best, electric system, urban and interurban in the world” being what was consolidated in 1911 as the Pacific Electric.
While this would soon change, there were still three major ports serving the Angel City, including San Pedro, what is now known as the Port of Los Angeles, Redondo, and Port Los Angeles (Santa Monica.) The latter two would dissipate, while Long Beach later grew to great prominence, and it was noted that San Pedro “is the port now accepted by the United States authorities” with $3 million of federal funding directed toward a “sea wall” or breakwater in process. This “will provide a perfect harbor of refuge and a safe anchorage for vessels” and it was added that “this port offers the shortest route from Atlantic to Pacific tide water” so that “a large amount of Oriental freight business” was expected when work was done. Not yet in sight, but a decade from completion, was the Panama Canal, which had a revolutionary effect on regional, much less global, trade.
Labor was only mentioned with references to 21,000 persons employed by builders, manufacturers and railroads and $23 million expended in construction and rail work so that “wages have been good and the demand for labor firm,” while “the supply is equal to the demand.” Nothing, of course, was said about unions.
When it came to the Angel City post office, it was pointed out that it had more general delivery windows than any other facility in the nation “the reason being that Los Angeles is the greatest tourist resort in the United States, and thousands of the persons receive their mail from the general delivery.” At the height of the tourist season, up to 10,000 pieces were handled each day and 5,000 persons served, while in the previous four years the office leapt from 35th to 25th in numbers of receipts issued. A table from 1890 showed receipt amounts growing consistently from $100,000 to $600,000 with no declines during those fifteen years.
The section ended with general information and praised the Chamber of Commerce, which owned a six-story building, for having 1,300 members and expending more than $350,000 in promoting the city in fifteen years. Its free permanent display on regional products was said to draw 120,000 visitors annually.
It was noted that there were 168 churches; 61 public school buildings, including the Normal School for teacher education, where the Central Library now stands; 777 teachers; 35,411 school-age children with 28,297 enrolled; 10 private schools; 109,000 volumes at the public library and home circulation at above 725,000 items, this judged “a record not approached by any other . . . in the United States;” 16 parks and 3,720 acres, over 80% of which is at Griffith Park, “the largest municipal park in the world;” three electric and two gas companies; two telephone companies with north of 32,000 subscribers, this “far ahead of all other cities in the world;” 8 theaters and one amusement park; and the “best hotel accommodations in the country” with “prices to suit all requirements.” For those interested in franchises (mainly railways, but also of utilities and others, a section is dedicated to that, including the W[illiam]. H. Workman Street Railway, granted in February 1894 for 35 years, for his Boyle Heights tracts.
This was a very lengthy and detailed post, but, again, hopefully one that sheds a fair amount of light on the situation in the rapidly growing metropolis in the early years of the 20th century as Los Angeles quickly ascended to the upper ranks of cities as America continued its rise to the pinnacle of world powers.